Forget "defying gravity" ... Kristin Chenoweth defies everything, including the laws of nature, in a brand new show conceived specially for Lincoln Center Presents THE AMERICAN SONGBOOK.

It just doesn't seem possible that this 4'11" beautiful creature from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, can possess the gifts she's been given. It also can't seem fair to other performers, or to many of her current peers, what she is truly capable of.

Kristin Chenoweth is the kind of talent that modern day Broadway cannot seem to showcase properly, which is undoubtedly why film and television have welcomed her with open arms and keep stealing her from us. Add to that her extraordinary training, being terrorized by her beloved voice teacher, Florence Birdwell, doing whatever shows she could find or pray herself into, while growing up ... and one could actually claim it's an outright miracle how she ever really got here at all. The answer turns out to be simple: blinding talent.

On Friday evening, February 15th, at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Allen Room, the diminutive Chenoweth gave not one, but two performances of what turned out to be one of the most satisfying musical evenings of theatre songs ever assembled.

The conceit was simple: THE DAMES OF BROADWAY - ALL OF 'EM !!!!! The story Kristin tells is that when she first arrived in New York, her first agent didn't know whether to send her out for leading lady parts or for the wise-cracking, funny supporting roles. So ... she takes care of business, in a BIG way, by telling some fantastic stories about her life and journey to the stage and just "kills" on 16 extremely well chosen songs, in both categories, from great musicals with great parts - for DAMES. She also sips whatever it is that she is drinking, between songs, out of her BIG GULP plastic cup, with a straw. Very Chenoweth, as was a very funny bit that included her TONY Award, which, still spins, and entertains her endlessly.

As we watched the show unravel and our jaws dropped, we couldn't believe she had already performed this program earlier that evening. Pitch-perfect, funny, touching, heart-breaking and ferocious, one song after another. And, in the audience, just feet away, we could see her proud parents, Junie and Jerry from Oklahoma, smiling and, yes, crying.

The lighting and sound seemed just perfect and, needless to say, that room has the most stunning back-drop in New York City, which Ms. Chenoweth used to her advantage, both in her story telling and lyric content.

Knowing that this show, in an edited form, will appear on PBS on March 24th, we don't want to be accused of "spoilers" but it was a perfectly calibrated evening, in terms of how the show, directed by Richard Jay-Alexander, unraveled and was performed. A lean, tight, thoroughly enjoyable 74 minutes and, of course, we would have stayed for plenty more.

The evening also bragged brilliant work by the highly respected Mary-Mitchell Campbell and her merry band of two: Damien Bassman on percussion and Dave Phillips on Bass. The arrangements were just perfect, song after song. There is also warm and wonderful support from four of the handsomest "fellas" anyone could ever hope to hear or see: Tyler Hanes, Will Taylor, Constantine Germanacos and Johnny Stellard - the first two tour with Kristin and the other two, we learn from Chenoweth, were in the recent revival of EVITA, which just closed.

Lincoln Center Presents THE AMERICAN SONGBOOK hit a home-run with this one. You just don't see shows like this very often, if ever, anymore.

Some personal favorites: SOMEBODY, SOMEHERE, MY LORD AND MASTER, DANCE 10, LOOKS 3, OLD MAID, GREEN FINCH AND LINNET BIRD, BEFORE THE PARADE PASSES BY, A QUIET THING .... Actually, we could go on and on ... so here's the full list with the composers, lyricists and the shows from which the songs were performed.

Somebody, SomewhereFrom The Most Happy Fella. Music and lyrics by Frank Loesser

PLEASE NOTE: As we did with the KANDER & EBB Tribute, BroadwayWorld will help to bring you any edits and bonus material, from this extraordinary evening, that we can get our hands on, for you. We'll keep you posted as the air-date gets closer.

Photos by Kevin Yatarola

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The 2001 Syracuse University graduate (School of Information Studies) is also the owner of Wisdom Digital Media, an award-winning leading design company for entertainment and technology web sites. In his previous life, he held an executive position for the world's leading publisher of technology magazines, web sites and conferences and, as a result, was named among the "Top thirty magazine industry executives under the age of 30" by FOLIO Magazine.

Robert Diamond founded BroadwayWorld.com in 2003, which has now become the largest theatre web site in the world. He also serves as the site's Editor-in-Chief, covering Broadway and beyond, with specific local coverage for 100 cities in the United States, 35 countries worldwide and 15 other related areas of entertainment - including dance, opera, fashion, concerts, comedy, films, television and more. In May of 2014, the site was awarded a 2014 Award for Excellence in Theatre Arts Education by the prestigious Theatre Museum.

Diamond got his start in the entertainment field, accidentally, when he created the 'official web site' (while in college) for Michael Crawford, the popular actor and original Tony and Olivier Award-winning star of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. (He still blames Crawford - and credits him - for anything that goes particularly right or wrong during an average day.)

As a respected member of the Broadway and theatre community, Diamond also served as Lead Producer for a series of sold-out shows using the BroadwayWorld.com 'brand' for a set of 'Standing Ovations' concerts, which also branched out into titles that included Holiday Shows and even more specific concerts like 'From Stage to Screen and Back Again' in tandem with publishers and movie studios. All proceeds were in turn donated to Broadway Cares / Equity Fights AIDS, the industry's leader in aid for performers in need.

Robert lives in Manhattan with his wife and two dogs, growing the business and getting little sleep. In addition, you can usually find him in a theatre many nights a week. Robert's very popular blog, 'The Broadway Pulse' appears daily on BroadwayWorld.com and he also wrote weekly about theatre for the USA Network's Character Approved blog.

In December of 2011, Diamond was one of 5 Syracuse University Alumni, all having achieved success in the world of start-ups, business growth and venture capital, participating on a panel addressing young alumni who are currently pursuing their dreams of running their own business and experiencing the day to day challenges of a startup. It is part of the university's new Student Accelerator Program, for which Rob was recommended by Syracuse University's i-School.

In late 2012, Wisdom Digital Media announced the official spinoff and launch of 10 new entertainment web sites including BWWMoviesWorld.com, BWWTVWorld.com, BWWFashionWorld.com, BWWBooksWorld.com, BWWMusicWorld.com, BWWArtWorld.com, BWWComedyWorld.com, BWWDanceWorld.com, BWWClassicalWorld.com and BWWOperaWorld.com.

In January of 2013, BWWGeeksWorld.com, devoted to home entertainment, mobile technologies and social media launched as well, followed by BWWFitnessWorld.com and BWWTravelWorld.com in April of 2013. In July of 2013, BWWHub.com launched as a portal to the complete family of entertainment and lifestyle offerings.

In 2014, BroadwayWorld.com returned to the concert stage, with a series of benefit concerts featuring Broadway's brightest stars. A new partnership with Rock-it Science Records will record and release these special evenings, with proceeds benefiting various charities.